This invention relates to a device for dispensing beverages, and more particularly, to improvements on such a device for reducing the space occupied thereby and for ensuring adequate cooling of the dispensed beverages while also maintaining a large drink serving capacity.
In typical locations where beverages are dispensed, such as in cafeterias and snack bars, the value of counterspace is at a premium. Counterspace in a food serving line is very expensive, especially in larger metropolitan areas. For this reason, beverage dispensing machines are desirably small and compact.
The width of a counter top beverage dispensing machine is usually determined by the number of different beverages to be dispensed since the sizes of a glass and of the hand which holds it are more or less constant. The size of individual dispensing nozzels are thus engineered based on those constants. The depth of such a machine is not as critical but is usually constrained by the depth of the counter on which the machine is positioned--typically 24 inches. The height of a dispensing machine, however, usually extends well above the top of the beverage dispensing nozzels. A machine having a lower height dimension, or "profile," not only enables placement of more items above or below the machine, but also enables greater contact between customers and servers who are on opposite sides of the machine.
Another primary concern related to beverage dispensing apparatus is the ease with which the apparatus may be serviced. The cooling unit of a dispenser is usually the part that needs repair, and since commercial establishments which serve beverages depend upon their beverage dispenser for consumer satisfaction, it is critical that the unit can be easily serviced and repaired without significant interruption of the dispenser's use. Because of this, the most ideal method for repairing a dispenser is to remove the malfunctioning cooling unit and replace it immediately with another unit. The defective unit can then be taken to a shop for repairs.
It is also critical for a beverage dispenser to adequately cool dispensed beverages despite frequent use of the dispenser over extended periods of time. One of the most successful methods for accomplishing this objective is to provide a machine which, during periods of non-use, forms an ice bank which slowly melts while cooling the beverages during periods of frequent use. To provide a heat pumping unit which could adequately cool beverages without such an ice bank would put unfeasible power requirements on the unit; the necessary unit would be expensive and over-sized.
Typically, the evaporator coils are part of an electric refrigeration system and the cooling liquid is water which fills a tank in which the ice bank forms. The beverage lines in such a unit, which beverage lines are also submerged within the tank in order to enable cooling, are configured relative to the ice bank in one of several common arrangements. The water is cooled by ice forming on the evaporator coils and the cooled water is circulated about the beverage lines by an impeller or other circulating means in order to cool the beverages to a desired temperature. Such a beverage dispenser is disclosed in the inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,335, entitled "Beverage Dispenser" which issued July 1, 1975, and the present invention incorporates several of the features disclosed by that patent.
The ability of such beverage dispensers to adequately cool during extended periods of frequent use depends significantly upon the size and orientation of the ice bank relative to the beverage lines. In fact, since larger ice banks ordinarily take longer amounts of time to melt, the volume of the ice bank formed in such a dispenser is a primary consideration for rating the dispenser. Those factors combined with the degree of insulation provided, the effectiveness of the cooling unit and the manner of circulation within the cooling tank usually determine the dispenser's ability to adequately operate. To optimize each of those factors while minimizing space is the primary challenge in the technology of beverage dispensers.
Beverage dispensers of this type are also rated by the number of drinks that can be dispensed below a given temperature during a given period of time, and by the temperature of the "occasional drink" (i.e., the temperature of a drink dispensed after the dispenser has not been used for a period of several hours). In the beverage dispensing market, it is desirable that the beverages be dispensed at a temperature of 40.degree. F. or below. A test generally used to determine the maximum capacity of a beverage dispensing apparatus is one determining the total number of 12 oz. beverages that a machine can dispense in a given period of time without exceeding the maximum temperature of 40.degree. F. The occasional drink, which may contain some beverage from lines between the cooling tank and the nozzle, should be maintained below the desired temperature as well.
Two basic arrangements between the evaporator coils and the beverage lines are common in the art. Many models have the beverage lines running around the inside periphery of the tank, starting and terminating at some point exterior to the tank, with the evaporator coil submerged inside the beverage lines. Although this type of design is relatively compact, it suffers a major downfall in that there is relatively little space in which ice can form around the evaporator coils and, in the event of irregular or excessive ice formation, the beverage lines may become frozen within the ice bank. If such occurs, the cooling unit cannot be easily removed without first thawing the ice.
Another arrangement known in the art reverses the previously discussed arrangement so that the evaporator coils are positioned circumferentially around the beverage lines. This second arrangement has the benefit of larger spaces for formation of an ice bank around the evaporator coils but still may present the problem of freezing the beverage lines within the ice bank. Furthermore, with this second arrangement where beverage lines run under the evaporator coils and up the side of the tank in order to enter or exit the tank (as is common in the art) such beverage lines and the beverage contained therein would also be subject to freezing, particularly if not in continual use.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a beverage dispensing apparatus that alleviates the problems encountered by the prior art and that has a low profile as well as the capacity to form a relatively large ice bank which effectively cools beverage lines. Other objects will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing and the following descriptions and discussions, particularly when considered in light of the attached drawings and appended claims.